Ignition apparatus for internal-combustion engines



BEST AVAILABLE co 4 1,616,939 F 1927' L. M. WOOLSON IGNITION APPARATUSFUR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed May 4, 1925 INVENTOR:

Lionel MWOQZsQL A TTORNE Y.

- qdou leiignition system. 5 I adapted "to supply area; 16 ignition s sem,

parts is avoided,

i magnetogfii gtgi i mordance-with the' BESTAVA UNITED STATES PATENTQ-FF-ICBQ ixoivnn in. woo'nson; or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR 'ro'mcmnn iuoroacan --comrm, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, a CORPORATIONoF'nIcnIoAN. p

f I??? Q mmmsnr m ron i'ivrnaneri-comnusrion enemas. I "fg ini tmii'fiieaua 4,1921 Seria1 No. sea 571p 7 5 This invention relatestoignition appa ratus' for internal combustionengines, particularly ofthetype employed in the ropul V sion of aircraft, and it contemplates te ro- 6 vision of a double ignition: stem which s, all

sturdy-- and'reliable, an inwhich a material saving. ofuweightjs'haillieiefiectedi J? fOne-object of theinvention istoprovide call distinctsou rces sto'eac ranch -of a Another; object to rovide li-lmgiiao in.which the unnecessary uplication. of

I a Other. objects and ofthe} an inwhich'z' I Fig-.1 1 is asellematicrepresentatlon of a' inventiomysheiifisiadifited to; supplythe i ignition systeni of 'cornla'iistion 'engm' e I.Fig;'2'is'a d1a i I'circults of a device similar'to thatshown m a six; -cylinder internalig." 1, but applicahleto a four cylinder en; 3o gine; and" v1 I Fig. 3is al diagram similar to Fig. 2;;

showings. diflerent-form of the inventiom "r The principal requirementfor the ignition system of amairplane" engine is reliability, in thefurtherance of which many aircraft the duphcation ofpartsg-Many'of theele ments ;,ofa,- magneto aregsufiiciently sturdy to bej'practicallyindestructible, and failures rarely"occu r in the ."rotor, oam, magnets,or

' 1 drive of oneofthese machines. On the other hand, the windings,contact breakers, condensers, etc.,' are of necessity delicate, and

- should he duphcated.

,ljinvention will appear from the following def. V scription'taken'1n=connect1onwith the draw- I, 20 which iormsapart of the SPQ C1 fit10H,

saw-a maae iei;

engines are equipped with double ignition; By a. double ignition systemis meant a system having duplicate sets of ignitionappai In this I XViththese considerations 'in mind, this invention provides, a'fma'gnetoadapted to supply the double ignition system of 'anin Referring to' thedrawing,- in- Fig. 1 is illustrated an internal combustion engine 10,

haviiplgxa cylinder portion 11 mounted on a or case portion 12, and.having a head portion :13 provided with s'park='plugs 14',' 1 which-are.adapted to ignite the fuel 1n the 1 engjmei ylinder in the well'knownmanner. It 'isto, be understood that the engine, in

7o; ition system,

the embodiment of the inventionillustrated, is .provided with a double iI and as shown in Fig. ;1, eac cylinder has the two pl 1'g;in anygiven-cylinder is connectedtof 'ai' separate source of electricalenergy, in .a manner Well understood in the art to which the inventionrelates.

We of the spark plugs 'l', so that each of At 16 is representedv magnetoof the well I known inductor type,"- having a e poles oi tensions 13and" 21.

arranged 9O degrees apart, the, opposite wings being of the samepolarity. The rotor air of permanent magnetsll'i', 'between th which isarranged afield structure including ""a lan'iinated core 18 rovided withpole exetween imd below the poles 19 and 21 is mounted a rotor 22havmgfour wings or extensions 23, which arecarries the extensions 23 past thepoles and 21 in ra id. succession causing a rapid the core 18 in a Wellknown manner. a

The laminated core 18 is provided with a plurality. of primary 'windin24; and secondary windings 26, arrange in sets, which sets constitute.separateclectrical circuits, and it will be evident tl1at ,themagnetiecirreversal of ow of magnetic flux through cuit formed by thecore 18,;the pole pieces l9 and: 21, and-tl1e-rotor"22, is common to allbf these electrical circuits. Each of theprimary windings 24 is providedwith a'suitlsists of a pair-of contacts 27 and 28, the contact, 28:being mounted on the end of a pivot ablegcircuitbreaker mechanism whichcon- AVNLABLE COP:

series with a switch 32 to a ground connection 33, as will be readily.seen; In practice the switches 32' are incorporated in-a' singlestructure, of well known type, having ofi andon positions for eachbranch of the system, and for both branches together.

The other end of the primary winding 24 I is connected at a commonground to the secondary winding 26, whic is mounted on the core 18 ininductive relation to the primar-y winding 24. The other end of thesecondary winding 26 is connected to .the centra-l contact 34 of thedistributer 36, having a number. of contacts 37arranged for coactionwitha rotatable arm 3 8, driven in timed relation to the engine in anyconvenient manner as is well understood. The

- contacts 37. are connected to the engine spark 20. of the contacts 37of each of the distributers .plugs 14 in the order in which the enginecylinders are arranged to fire. Each one 36 is connected to .one sparkplug 14 in each i of the enginecylinders, in the well known onsl useinconnection with a four cylinderengine, as is well known. y

It will be'iohservedthat the switch 32 is in series with the contacts 27and 28 in the primary circuit 21- s0r'that' with this switch open,the'circuit 24 is open, and the magmm is rendered inoperative, In thisway,

i only a single wire-fromeachof the breakers 29 to the switch '32 isneeded, the primary circuit being completed to ground throughthisswitch. a

In the operation of the device, if one. of thesets of coils-isopen-circuited, either intentionally or accidentally, there is a markedincrease in the output of the other coil set caused by the decrease inchoking effect exerted-'by' the coil wh'h is. open circuited. Thus incas of acc dent to one of the branches of the system it is onlynecessary to 'open the circuit of this branch, at the switch 32, tointensify the action of the re maining branch, thus promoting therehability of the device.

If one of the coil sets is short-circuited, its choking effect isincreased and consequently the output of the other coil is dey creasedsomewhat, but not sufiiciently to interfere with'the operation of theengine.

- In Fig. 3 is shown another formof the invention, .adapted for. singleignition, in

Y which the terminals 37 of the single distributer 36 are-eachconnectedto one spark plug in each of the engine'cylindcrs. In this apparatus themagneto-161k provided with a primary winding 24:, but has only one ofthesecondary windings 26, which is connected to the distributerarm .38 inthe usual manner. The other primary winding 24 may be used to supply lowtension current to independent electrical cir cuits, a lamp 38 and aresis tance 39 being illustrated by way of example. Y

-It will be evident that by this invention is provided a'structure-inwhich the magnets,

pole pieces and rotor of the single machine are common to the twoindependent sets of coils and their associated parts. By thisconstruction, a single magnetic- .circuit is made common to a pluralityof electrical circuits, so that duplication of the relatively heavyparts associated with the magnetic circuit, isavoided. .At the sametime, the

4 electrical circuits are totally separate and distinct, so that troubleoriginating in either one will not aiiect the operation of the other toany extent.

It will be understood that various form In this way the reliability ofthe apparatus is enhanced.

of the invention otherthan those described above may be used withoutdeparting from I the spirit or scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: 1. The combination with an internal coinbustionengine, of a magneto havlng a single magnetic circuit and a-plurality ofelectrical circuits arranged in inductively associated sets, one ofsaidelectrical circuits including the ignition system of the engine.

2. The combination with an internal combustion engine, of a magnetohaving a pluralit of electrical circuits each including win ings intransformer re1ation,'of a Single magnetic circuit common. to all thewindin s, and means connectin at least one of t e windings -tothe'ignition system of the engine.

The combination with an internal combustion engine, of a magneto havinga plurality of electricalcircuits each including a primary andsecondarywinding, a single magnetic circuit for all of the windings, and

means'connecting the secondary windings to the ignition system of theengine.

4. The combination with an internal combustion engine having sparkplugs, of a magneto having a plurality of electrical circuits eachincluding inductively associated windmgs, a single magnetic circuit forall of the windings, and means adapted to distribute current from atleast one of the windings to the spark plugs.

5. The combination with an internal combustion engine having an ignitionsystem, of a magneto having electrical circuits including a plurality ofprimary windings, a magnetic circuit common to all of theelectricalcircuits, and means associated with at least one of'theelectrical circuits to supply current to said ignition system.

6. The combination with an internal co'm- BESTAVNLABLE COP;

mary and secondary windings, a" magnetic circuit common to saidelectrical circuits, separate means adapted to break the circuit in eachof the primary windings in timed relation to the engine, and a switch inseries with each of said breaker-means adapted to complete the circuitthrough the last named winding.

7, The combinationwith an internal combustion engine having an ignitionsystem, of a magneto havinga plurality of electrical circuits eachincluding inductively associated sets of windings, and a single magneticcircuit common to all of the windings, separate means adapted to' breakthe circuits in some of the windings of each set in timed re latio'ntothe engine a switch in series with each of said breaker means, and meansadapted to distribute current from other of said windings to theignition system of the engine.

. 8. A magneto having a plurality ar -i "j mary and secondary windingsforming elec trically independent circuits, ground connections for theprimary windings, and switch means in serieswith the primaryavindingsand the ground connections adapted to complete or open the circuittherethrough.

9,'In combination in a magneto, a plurality of sets of windingsassociated in inductive relation, circuit breaking means in a serieswith one of the windings of each set, a'condenser arranged to shunt eachof said circuit breaking means and a single magnetic circuit common toall of said windings.

10. The combination in ignition'apparatus for internal combustionengines having a plurality of spark plugs in each cylinder thereof,'of amagneto having pairs of windings inductively associated in sets intransformer relation, a s paratecircuit breaker for one of the windingsof each set operable in timed'relation to the engine, a'separatecondenser arranged to shunt each circuit breaker, a separatedistributing means associated with the other windings of each set.

adapted to distribute current from said windings to one of the sparkplugs of each cylinder, and single means to produce a magnetic fieldcommon to all said windings.

ture;

LIONEL, M. WOOLSON.

In testimony whereof Iv afiix my signa-

